Plunder ancient tombs for treasure in ROVR, a new game for the ZX Spectrum!

Retro gamers looking for a new title to add to their collection should be sure to check out ROVR, developed by Paul Jenkinson and generously released for free to the Spectrum community.

An acronym for “Remote Operated Vehicle Recovery”, the game is a top-down exploration or ‘maze’ game where players must guide a tiny recovery vehicle through the bowels of an ancient pyramid in search of treasure and precious artefacts.

The quest for loot might be more challenging than was first thought, having long been buried underneath centuries of dust and debris. Fortunately, your ROVR unit is equipped to deal with the task at hand, possessing a diamond-tipped drill with which to crack open rocks and to remove otherwise immovable objects, such as toppled plinths and stone slabs, from it’s path. Further complicating matters are the numerous sand serpents that have made their homes among the ruins, to say nothing of the scarabs and other beasts that slither around in the darkness.

Lending the game a sense of realism, not to mention an added complication, is the fact that the recovery unit can only carry one item at any given time. Factor in a battery charge with a limited amount of power and players face a stiff challenge as they must learn to memorise the interior of the pyramid, lest the ROVR run our of juice and be stranded in the depths forever.

If you think you’re up to the challenge, why not download a copy of the game from our homebrew database and try the game for yourself!